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202 FLOWERS OF GARDEN AND GREENHOUSE 
the leaf; then they must be watered, and as soon as sufficiently grown 
they should be potted. 
Description of Plate 95. Cotyledon retusa. Fig. 1, enlarged flower; 
Plates and Fic. 2, section of same. 
Plate 96. C. secunda, var. glauca. Fig. 1, enlarged section of 
flower; Fig. 2, transverse section of fruit. 
PETS gee Sere sah pacientes 
STONECROPS 
Natural Order CRASSULACEH. Genus Sedum 
SEDUM (Latin, sedeo, to sit, from the half-recumbent habit of some of the 
species). A large genus of succulent herbs, usually with alternate leaves 
and white, yellow, pink, or blue flowers in cymes. The calyx is four- or 
five-lobed ; petals separate, four or five; stamens four or five; carpels 
four or five, distinct or joined at the base, styles short. The fruits are 
follicles. The one hundred and twenty known species are distributed 
through the Temperate and Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, 
and a few in America. . 
No less than eight species of Sedwm are indigenous to 
Britain, and having regard to the neat habit of most of 
these, and the fact that we began introducing exotic species three 
undred years ago, it is no wild shot to surmise that from very early 
times our wild Sedums found place in our gardens. On the garden 
walls, the fanciful grottoes, and the roofs of garden sheds they would 
have their place, as we may gather from their names of Wall Pepper 
and Small Houseleeks; besides being used for bordering, for which 
purpose S. aere and similar dwarf forms are so suitable. The first 
foreign species to be introduced was S. Anacampseros from the a 
Continent in 1596, followed by another European species, S. Cepwa, 
1640. 8. Aizoon, an old-fashioned garden plant, came from Siberia in 
1757. 8. Ewersii, one of the best, though rather tender, is also Siberian 
(introduced 1829); whilst the somewhat similar 9. Sieboldii came from 
Japan in 1836. 
Principal Species,  SEDUM ACRE (acrid). Wall Pepper, or Biting Stone 
crop. Stems 3 to 5 inches. Leaves thick, oval-oblong, 
blunt, humped at the base ; closely laid one on another in six series: : 
Flowers yellow, about half an inch across; June and July. The flowering 
stems are far less leafy than the barren ones. Native perennial. There 
are several garden varieties recognised; var. awrewm has the leaves of a 
History. 
